Reliability of the cluster model approach to the Stark tuning rate of adsorbates on metal surfaces: CO and OH− on Pt(111)

Enhancement of encaged electron concentration by Sr2+ doping and improvement of Gd3+ emission through controlling encaged anions in conductive C12A7 phosphors

Conductive C12A7:0.1%Gd³⁺,y%Sr²⁺ phosphors have been prepared through hydrogen route in combination with subsequent UV-irradiation.

Electric field effects on aromatic and aliphatic hydrocarbons: a density-functional study

The influence of a uniform static external electric field on some aliphatic and aromatic molecular species is studied within the density functional theory (DFT) employing the 6-311++G(2d,2p) basis set with B3LYP exchange-correlation prescription. The electric field perturbs the molecular geometry but drastically alters the dipole moments and engenders, to a varying degree, the molecular vibrational Stark effect, i.e., shifts in the infrared (IR) vibrational frequencies accompanied by spectral intensity redistribution. For polar molecules, significant negative ("red") and positive ("blue") frequency shifts are observed for field orientations both parallel and antiparallel to their permanent dipole moments. Further, a selective reordering of frontier orbitals is observed to be brought about by moderately intense fields. In particular, molecules having a lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) with predominant pi character possess a threshold field beyond which energy gap between the highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) and LUMO diminishes rapidly. A time-dependent (TD) DFT analysis reveals that an increase in the applied field strength by and large increases the excitation energies corresponding to significant electronic transitions among frontier MOs with a concomitant decrease in their oscillator strengths.

Interface between platinum(111) and liquid isopropanol (2-propanol): A model for molecular dynamics studies

A molecular dynamics model and its parametrization procedure are devised and used to study adsorption of isopropanol on platinum(111) (Pt(111)) surface in unsaturated and oversaturated coverages regimes. Static and dynamic properties of the interface between Pt(111) and liquid isopropanol are also investigated. The magnitude of the adsorption energy at unsaturated level increases at higher coverages. At the oversaturated coverage (multilayer adsorption) the adsorption energy reduces, which coincides with findings by Panja et al. in their temperature-programed desorption experiment [Surf. Sci. 395, 248 (1998)]. The density analysis showed a strong packing of molecules at the interface followed by a depletion layer and then by an oscillating density profile up to 3 nm. The distribution of individual atom types showed that the first adsorbed layer forms a hydrophobic methyl "brush." This brush then determines the distributions further from the surface. In the second layer methyl and methine groups are closer to the surface and followed by the hydroxyl groups; the third layer has exactly the inverted distribution. The alternating pattern extends up to about 2 nm from the surface. The orientational structure of molecules as a function of distance of molecules is determined by the atom distribution and surprisingly does not depend on the electrostatic or chemical interactions of isopropanol with the metal surface. However, possible formation of hydrogen bonds in the first layer is notably influenced by these interactions. The surface-adsorbate interactions influence the mobility of isopropanol molecules only in the first layer. Mobility in the higher layers is independent of these interactions.

A Band Dispersion Mechanism for Pt Alloy Compositional Tuning of Linear Bound CO Stretching Frequencies

The C-O stretching frequency (nu(CO)) of atop CO/Pt in PtRu alloys is compositionally tuned in proportion to the Pt mole percent. The application of a Blyholder-Bagus type mechanism (i.e., increased back-donation from the metal d-band to the hybridized 2pi CO molecular orbitals (MOs)) to compositional tuning has been paradoxical because (1) a Pt-C bond contraction, expected with increased back-donation as the Pt mole percent is reduced, is not observed (i.e., calculated Pt-C bond is either elongated or insensitive to alloying and the binding energies of CO/Pt decrease with alloying) and (2) the lowering d-band center and increased d-band vacancies upon alloying (suggesting less back-donation to the higher energy metal hybridized 2pi CO MOs) must be reconciled with the alloy-induced red shift of the nu(CO). A library of spin-optimized Pt and Pt alloy clusters was the basis of density functional theory (DFT) calculations of CO binding energies, nu(CO) values, shifts, and broadening of 5sigma/2pi CO MO upon hybridization with the alloy orbitals and a DFT derived Mulliken electron population analysis. The DFT results, combined with FEFF8 local density of states (LDOS) calculations, validate a 5sigma donation-2pi back-donation mechanism, reconciling the direction of alloy compositional tuning with the lowering of the d-band center and increased vacancies. Although the d-band center decreases in energy with alloying, an asymmetric increase in the dispersion of the d-band is accompanied by an upshift of the metal cluster HOMO level. Concomitantly, the hybridization and renormalization of the CO 5sigma/2pi states results in a broadening of the 5sigma/2pi manifold with additional lower energy states closer to the upshifted (with respect to the pure Pt cluster) HOMO of the alloy cluster. The dispersion toward higher energies of the alloy d-density of states results in more 5sigma/2pi CO filled states (i.e., enhanced 2pi-back-donation). Finally, Mulliken and FEFF8 electron population analysis shows that the increase of the average d-band vacancies upon alloying and additional 2pi back-donation are not mutually exclusive. The d-electron density of the CO-adsorbed Pt atom increases with alloying while the average d-electron density throughout the cluster is reduced. The localized electron density is manifested as an electrostatic wall effect, preventing the Pt-C bond contractions expected with increased back-donation to the 2pi CO MOs.

Field-dependent electrode-chemisorbate bonding: sensitivity of vibrational stark effect and binding energetics to nature of surface coordination

Illustrative quantum-chemical calculations for selected atomic and molecular chemisorbates on Pt(111) (modeled as a finite cluster) are undertaken as a function of external field, F, by using Density Functional Theory (DFT) with the aim of ascertaining the sensitivity of the field-dependent metal-adsorbate binding energetics and vibrational frequencies (i.e., the vibrational Stark effect) to the nature of the surface coordination in electrochemical systems. The adsorbates selected--Cl, I, O, N, Na, NH(3), and CO--include chemically important examples featuring both electron-withdrawing and -donating characteristics. The direction of metal-adsorbate charge polarization, characterized by the static dipole moment, mu(S), determines the binding energy-field (E(b-F) slopes, while the corresponding Stark-tuning behavior is controlled primarily by the dynamic dipole moment, mu(D). Significantly, analysis of the F-dependent sensitivity of mu(S) and mu(D) leads to a general adsorbate classification. For electronegative adsorbates, such as O and Cl, both mu(S) and mu(D) are negative, the opposite being the case for electropositive adsorbates. However, for systems forming dative-covalent rather than ionic bonds, as exemplified here by NH(3) and CO, mu(S) and mu(D) have opposite signs. The latter behavior, including electron-donating and -withdrawing categories, arises from diminishing metal-chemisorbate orbital overlap, and hence the extent of charge polarization, as the bond is stretched. A clear-cut distinction between these different types of surface bonding is therefore obtainable by combining vibrational Stark-tuning and E(b)-F slopes, as extracted from experimental data and/or DFT calculations. The former behavior is illustrated by means of potential-dependent Raman spectral data obtained in our laboratory.